I have listened to this album and I have foreseen my death: I'll be down in Florida to hang out with Chan and John Hanson. Chan will be working late so I'll go out with John Hanson despite the fact that we fucking hate each other. When we get back to the apartment, I'll be blacked out sitting on a couch and John Hanson will suggest we listen to some music. I'll be too intoxicated to offer a coherent response so I'll be unable to protest when he throws on "White Crosses". Hanson goes in the other room to change and starts espousing some meticulously crafted bullshit rant about the pleasures of conformity as "I Was a Teenage Anarchist" blares. I'll turn around to see Hanson in a lab coat wielding a giant axe over his head and all I'll be able to stammer is "Are you wearing a lab coat". In an effort to make my last moments as excruciatingly ironic as possible, Hanson will wittily retort "Why, yes, didn't you know I are scientists". I'll be utterly filled with dread and loathing and absolute fucking resentment as the axe falls.

I don't think anyone has made as big of a "fuck you" album to their old fans as Against Me! have done here. Luckily, those fans were all dirty, disgusting hippies anyways. White Crosses is louder, more frenetic, and catchier than their previous record New Wave, while providing an even bigger adrenaline rush. This is a new Against Me! for a new fanbase, and its kick-ass.

"See, the reason you all like Against Me! in the first place, the reason that they’re even a
band you’ve HEARD OF is because Tom et al have ambition that can’t be contained by playing
dumb basement shows and working as waiters. They aspire to be career musicians. And before
you get all snippy about that being a bad thing, let me remind you that selling tee shirts,
sweaters, patches and beer cozies are the trappings of a lifestyle boutique, not a musical
troupe, so ANY BAND that makes shirts is doing so for the purposes of commerce, even though
realistically, it has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH MUSIC. AND THAT’S FINE! That’s fucking
great. That’s the thing. Propaghandi, Tragedy, whoever, they all fucking deal in commerce.
... Finally, there are people out there (I was one of them) who say shit like “all I want is
to play music to two or three hundred kids a night. I don’t want to be big. I think this is
much cooler.” They say that because that’s an ambition point that they have not yet reached.
Ask Avail. Ask the Suicide Machines. Ask the Lawrence Arms or Strike Anywhere or Matchbook
Romance or anyone who’s gotten to that point and gotten stuck if that was where they hoped
their career topped out. Go ahead. Ask them. They’re all working at bars and landscaping
jobs and shit like that. Meanwhile, Tom [Gabel] is asleep on a bus and he’s gonna wake up
and write songs and then play some songs for a bunch of happy people tonight and it’s
because he’s realizing his ambition. What’s cooler? You tell me. Go ahead. Come into my bar
today and see how many of your favorite songs I sing you. Yeah. I’m real glad I “decided”
not to play stadiums for thousands of people. "

Like most of you, this album caught me completely off guard on my first listen. This was not an Against Me! that I was used to at all. I never got into the new sound that began to emerge on New Wave, and was disappointed by the end of White Crosses the first time around. My problem was that I still believed that I was listening to the same band that created the simple yet catchy folk-punk on Reinventing Axl Rose, and the truth is that Against Me! have moved on. That became apparent on New Wave to the dismay of many fans and plain obvious on this record. I was not ready to dismiss White Crosses as garbage and by the end of my second listen, I grew to enjoy it slightly more. Since then, I have played this album atleast 20 times through, listening to it whenever I get the chance: on the bus to/from school, on the computer, in my room, whatever...my point is that White Crosses is far from perfect and I still could make several complaints about various aspects of the record but give it a chance and you will find yourself unable to avoid coming back.

A pale shadow of their former selves, they can still at least put together decent music. They have lost the hard edge that made them Against Me!, singing heavy political lyrics and making obscure song titles, into a more commerical rock troupe style you can hear nearly everywhere. Not highly impressed with the new album compared with their old stuff, but it is at least listenable. Giving them an average for at least putting together decent commercial rock.

Aware of the argument for this album being bad due to its glossy production and its departure from "Reinventing Axl Rose"'s style. However, this album was the soundtrack to my sophomore and I couldn't get enough of it. Personally I feel that the only bad song is "Suffocation". I would honestly rate it a 4.5 but I gave it a 5 in attempt to boost its average.

This is a good album in that the songs are very catchy and fun, however it suffers from being overproduced. The growls from Tom Gabel from previous albums are gone, and in them dies the punk aesthetic.

I'll probably get flamed for liking this album a little. Honestly, I've loved against me! for a long time. Yes I do believe their early material is classic, and I DO love them ten years ago more than I love them know, but this record isn't that terrible. If they just changed their name or something, no one would care. It's nowhere near album of the year, but it is a very great listen.

Great album. This band had a marked influence on me back in the Eternal Cowboy days, and to this day are still my favorite band to see live, and I definitely dig this album. Their music seems to grow with me, becoming more and more pop sensible as my sweet tooth begins to prevail more and more when it comes to musical taste. So, what many of their fans see as a bad thing I see as a very good thing. "White Crosses," "I Was a Teenage Anarchist," "Suffocation," and "Bamboo Bones" are really great songs. Hell, this album even shares my disenchantment with anarchists. I may believe in many of the same ideals still, whether Gabel does or not is up for debate, but many of my friends from that scene have betrayed me because of superficialities and my desire to actually do well in a capitalist society, so I don't have to starve for my beliefs.
In any case, it's evident a lot of work went into writing this album. Keep up the good work, fellas!